Mammoth Cave plus

Well I had driven to Elizabethtown to see the Coca-Cola Museum only to find out that it had closed in 2011.  But not to be discouraged I decided to substitute the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.  But First...

I got to Mammoth Cave and parked.  Went to get a ticket for a guided tour.  The only tour with an opening was at 12:15 and it was currently 10:25.  I wanted a tour so I had time to kill.  What do I do, I head for the restaurant and drink Diet Coke for at least 3/4 of an hour.  I spent time in the gift shop and then went out to wait for the tour.  The tour was 2 miles of walking including climbing 7 flights of stairs.  I must say my knees didn't hurt, which was a miracle.  A nine year old girl made friends with me and we traveled the cave together.  She was adorable and afraid of the dark so I gave her a small flashlight I found in my pocket.  She kept me from slipping and breaking my neck in rough areas.  The tour we took had no stalagmites or stalagtites.  Mammoth is not a cave with much of that kind of thing, which is really to bad, since that is what most people go to see.

Anyway after the tour I went out for my car and couldn't find it.  I searches the parking lot for half an hour and finally called 911.  Of course I cried because all I saw was my trip ruined on the first week.  A park ranger was dispatched to help me look.  Well what I didn't realize was that there was an entirely different set of parking lots around out of the way.  This is where I had actually parked.  I have never been so happy to see a car in my life.

I went to the Corvette Museum but I found it quite boring but it did take up some time.  I then headed to Nashville.  Well I have no idea if I am in Nashville or not because I hit an horrendous rain storm and poor signage so tomorrow I will figure out where I am.

I found a Comfort Inn in a questionable part of town, which everyone warned me about.  It was all I could see in the storm.  I did find a lovely Mexican restaurant for dinner.  The waiter doted on me.  Wait staff seem to feel sorry for people alone and lavish attention on them.

It's been a long day and I still have postcards to write.

Hateful GPS

Today was the day of betrayal by my GPS. A trip that should have taken 2 1/2 hours took more than 5 because my GPS kept either flaking out or giving me bad directions.  I would check the map and try and retrace my steps and recode the GPS from the new location and we would start with new creative mistakes.

Well I finally got to my first destination for the day which was the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill.  It is a beautiful restoration of the original buildings.  They have excellent docents doing the demonstrations, just like at Old Salem.They still own several thousand acres of land but don't cultivate much of it.  They have an herb garden just as the shakers did, it is lovely.  They also grow the vegetables that are used in the restaurant on the campus.  They also have a lodge where you can stay.  It must be lovely.  I spent several hours there and then headed out.

I threatened the GPS that I was going to replace it with a Garmin so suddenly it was working better.  I plugged in Elizabethtown, which has a Coca-cola Memoriabilia Museum.  I thought I would compare it to Atlanta's real Coke museum.  I got into Elizabethtown too late to get there so I have checked into a motel.  Next I have to find a nice place to eat dinner.  I had a small amount of fruit and nuts for lunch and a lot of aggrevation.

Tomorrow will be a better day.  I'll get the hang of this traveling with maps and a wonky GPS.

Clinton and Oak Ridge TN

I am writing this while completely sated from a lovely meal at a restaurant named Rouxbarb.  Judi and I split Foie Gras that melted in your mouth.  My main course was duck and dumplings.  The duck was succulent and tender, just perfect.

Judi took me to an old school named Green Macadoo which was an all black school in the Jim Crow days. When the town of Clinton, TN was sued at first the black students were being bussed for hours to another county to go to a black high school. This was the separate but equal.  Then the supreme court struck down the separate but equal.  12 students were admitted to the Clinton High School and all was going well until a Northern rabble rouser showed up to stir up hatred.  Eventually the National Guard was called in and the rabble rouser was sent to jail.  It was a wonderful little museum.

In the afternoon we went to the Oak Ridge Children's Museum.  It gave the history of Oak  Ridge during the years of World War II when they were developing the Atomic Bomb here.  It was a fascinating exhibit.  It showed how people lived, how there were gates to get into most of the town.  How there were different forms of housing, the levels of security that people lived under and other harsh conditions.  The museum held other exhibits of the pioneers, the native americans and the animals of North America.  It is a lovely museum with lots to see.

Who knows what tomorrow holds.

1st day

Well the first day has been a huge success.  I did drive through some terrible rain every once in awhile but it didn't affect my mood.  Going through the mountains was beautiful.  They looked like a Monet painting. All soft greens,purples and muted browns with a shot of white to make the whole thing pop.

I made great time getting through NC as I do drive rather fast.  I headed up to the Cumberland Gap.  In order to really see the Gap you have to climb up the hill.  Well off I started and quickly down I came,  there was poison ivy everywhere.  There is nothing that frightens me more than poison ivy.  I figure I could live without seeing the Gap.

I did get to the Abraham Lincoln Museum at the Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN.  It is a very small museum with some lovely exhibits, artifacts and  dioramas.  It was well worth  the trip.  Upstairs at the museum they had a display about all the movies made about Abraham Lincoln.  It was very clever.

I'm now happily enfolded into Judi and Lenny's household.  I'm being fed good food and being given a bed to sleep in.  Life is good.

Time is running out

I am crossing off as many items as I can from my lists but it seems endless.  Luckily I'm doing things as early as possible because of course everything takes twice as long as it should.  The memory sticks for my camera are obsolete, as if I had some ancient technology.  I had to call Sony and specially order some so that I would have extras for the trip.  They had to check to see if they carried them or if they had to check in their special obsolete warehouse.

I finally got the last piece of paper so I can finish getting my taxes done.  Check-one more dreadful task done.

I had to go out and buy clothes which is the most loathsome task of all.  Well I did get some clothes so I won't be naked.  I also ordered clothes on line.  Hopefully it will be enough so that i don't have to do laundry too often.

Anyway the day is fast approaching.

Running out of time

It amazes me how fast the time is flying until I leave.  I know it is more than a month but it is only about 6 weeks!  I don't want to leave with things unfinished.   I've taken care of my Will, Health Care Power of Attorney and Living Will, gruesome but necessary.  I put together a list of passwords for John and myself, because I don't remember all the different passwords that match applications.  One by one I'm trying to knock off tasks.

I've been through the books on Arkansas and Louisiana and I must say I am less than impressed.  I have been through Arkansas before so that makes a difference and I don't like creole cooking so that pretty much takes care of Louisiana.  However, surprisingly I have found a lot to see in Kansas.  It is the center of the continental US, the birthplace of the Pony Express, the hub of many early railroads and a Wizard of Oz Museum.

Progress on the beginning of the trip

I have made it through the tour book on Tennessee and Kentucky.  There are an amazing amount of things to see, including the Cumberland Gap.  My friend Judi is all ready to see me on April 2.  I had promised her that I would stop by her at the beginning of the trip.  Judi is one of the two women who visit me for the Furniture Market.  I'll visit Ann at the other end of the trip.

I've also gone through the book on Texas.  Boy am I going to rack up some miles seeing all I want to see.  Actually to get through the state you have to rack up miles so you may as well stop and see places to break up the trip.  I'm including Cadillac Ranch.